Synopsis

Squidward in his cardboard-box shelter

It's closing time at the Krusty Krab, but Mr. Krabs refuses to let anyone go home until he finishes counting up the day's profits. To his horror, he discovers that the first dime he earned has gone missing, and the accusing finger is pointed to Squidward as he mans the register all day. Squidward angrily denies this, and after a heated argument ensues between the two, Squidward quits his job. SpongeBob runs outside and attempts to convince Squidward to change his mind. But after hearing Squidward's great ambitions, SpongeBob leaves him be and insists that if Squidward needs anything, that he can seek help from him.

After some time, SpongeBob encounters Squidward again. Unable to find a new job, Squidward has become homeless and is now living on the streets in a cardboard box begging passerbys for spare change. After his box is repurposed, Squidward explains that he lost everything since he quit and he resorted to eating his paintings as nobody would take them. SpongeBob takes Squidward into his own home in order to nurse him until he can look for a new job. One night, Squidward calls SpongeBob multiple times for various minute reasons, which ends with SpongeBob falling down the stairs. Gary tries to tell SpongeBob that Squidward is a freeloader and taking advantage of him, but SpongeBob is in denial, coming up with several excuses as to why Squidward has not yet found a job.

"It's about time you got here!"

However, many months pass by (up to the point where time cards fly so much that the producers had to hire a new narrator after the French Narrator got tired of waiting), and it becomes clear that Squidward has no intention of finding new employment, instead becoming completely dependent on SpongeBob and turning him into a manservant of sorts (he is even forced to wear a maid outfit). At this point, SpongeBob is beginning to lose his patience, so he tries conveying several less-than-subtle hints to Squidward in order to push him to look for work (for example, when serving Squidward a bowl of alphabet soup, he arranges the letters to read "Get a job").

Mr. Krabs' first dime revealed

These hints prove to be useless, so SpongeBob tries to make it as simple as he can by actually talking and not using hints, but Squidward still doesn't notice (or more likely, deliberately ignores) them. Finally at the end of his rope, SpongeBob pushes the bed that Squidward is lying on through the upstairs wall and all the way to the Krusty Krab. SpongeBob finds Mr. Krabs talking on the phone with someone asking him to make a donation to the children's fund to which he responds "What have children ever done for me?".

SpongeBob gives Mr. Krabs a dime and angrily asks him to give Squidward his job back. Mr. Krabs says that the dime is not his first dime and refuses, even turning down the many other dimes that SpongeBob offers. This causes the latter to go ballistic and he grabs Mr. Krabs by the throat and yells at him about how ridiculous the situation is. After violently shaking Mr. Krabs, the first dime suddenly appears (a large coin-shaped rock; Mr. Krabs explains that he has been in the business "for a long time"), revealing that it was in his pocket the whole time.

Squidward is rehired to his original position, and all seems well until Mr. Krabs accuses Squidward of placing the dime in his pocket. This starts a new dispute, and the episode ends with SpongeBob changing into his maid outfit as the two continue to argue, anticipating the inevitable.

Squidward becomes obsessive-compulsive, especially when he fussed about the number of seeds he wanted in a lemon.

Coincidentally enough, "Idiot Box" aired one week before this episode did, and both episodes involve Squidward and a large box: In "Idiot Box," SpongeBob and Patrick buy a new TV set just so they could play with the box it came in, and Squidward eventually goes inside to play with it. This episode, Squidward ends up living in a box after he loses his home.

Oddly, Mr. Krabs' first dime resembles "cavemen currency" as he states he has been in the business a long time. However, in the much later episode "Friend or Foe," Mr. Krabs sold his first Krabby Patty and received modern money.

When SpongeBob was delivering lemonade to Squidward, there was a picture of his pineapple and what it seems to be a portrait of Squidward. If you look very closely, there is also a photo that looks like Patrick.

When Mr. Krabs checked his register, he mentioned "applesauce," which is not even kept in the register. It's likely a mnemonic device, in which words are used to help him remember how to count his money.

Squidward says he is allergic to newsprint, but he has been seen reading the paper in other episodes. He may have been taking allergy medicine in the other episodes. Although, it could have just been an excuse for him to not read the Job ads.

Squidward says he can't eat anything with an odd number because the lemon had three seeds in it.

Though, in many episodes he is shown eating one of something.

As it was made apparent that Squidward hadn't left SpongeBob's house in "many months" or hadn't seen Mr. Krabs since he quit his job at the Krusty Krab, it could be presumed that either SpongeBob, Patrick, (who has occasionally worked at the Krusty Krab) or someone else took Squidward's place as cashier.

In the Polish dub, the episode's title is "Grosz niezgody" (The Cent of Discord).

The title is very similar to the Polish title of "The Other Patty," "Ość niezgody" (The Fishbone of Discord).

Mr. Krabs' first dime also appears in "Mutiny on the Krusty," but in that episode, it looks different and is more of a real dime.

In the episode "Squid's Visit," Squidward said that he has never gone to SpongeBob's house, but he went to SpongeBob's house (so he can stay there for as long as he wanted) in this episode. It is most likely that this episode took place after "Squid's Visit."

This episode has to take place after "Christmas Who?" even though there is no reference to Christmas in this episode. This is because this episode takes place longer than a year, and "Christmas Who?" takes place shorter than a year after "Help Wanted."

The end of this episode might take place before "Pickles," because in that episode, SpongeBob forgets how to make Krabby Patties and goes to bed.

In the Croatian dub, the episode name is "Ima' Šta, Sitnog?," translating to "Got Any Change?"

During the montage of SpongeBob taking care of Squidward, the APM track Break-Thru plays, which SpongeBob then quotes later in the episode by saying "I'm sure he's close to a break-thru."

This is the second episode where SpongeBob had any anger or tension towards Squidward. The first was in "Employee of the Month."

Cultural references

Mr. Krabs' dime is a real form of currency called a "Rai Stone." They were used by Pacific Islanders and some weigh several tons, so the dime that Krabs had was realistic in scale. The Stone Age natives lacked the resources to create other alternatives to this currency. And since it weighs so much, Squidward couldn't possibly even move the dime, let alone steal it.

When Mr. Krabs asks if Squidward's willing to swear "on a stack of Interpretive Dance Quarterlies," it's a reference to "swearing on a stack of Bibles," which means to be completely honest and tell the whole truth.

Artists eating their own paintings, such as Squidward in this episode, is a common issue among impoverished artists, some of whom had so little money for food that they had to eat their own creations to survive.

Errors

The boat disappears while Mr. Krabs and Squidward are shaking hands.

After Squidward throws the soup, the blanket is pink.

The TV has a background, but when it shows SpongeBob, there is no background. It's possible SpongeBob removed it to make the puppet show.

Squidward has no fingers, but when he squeezes Mr. Krabs' eyes, it leaves a pattern like a human hand had squeezed them.

After Squidward claims that he ate his paintings, one of them is seen in his stomach. However, in the next scene, his body is back to normal.

SpongeBob is able to strangle Mr. Krabs and choke him out of rage, but Mr. Krabs has a shell, so SpongeBob shouldn't have been able to choke him.

Mr. Krabs says he keeps his special dime at the back of the register, though it cannot fit in the register, due to the dime's size.

Squidward says there are three seeds in the lemon, but when there is a close-up shot of it, it appears to have two seeds.

When SpongeBob finishes polishing Squidward's bald head, the holes in Squidward's head are missing, but they reappear when a back view of his head is shown.

SpongeBob claims Squidward to have green skin when it is actually light blue. It's possible he is referring to the green puppet.

When SpongeBob goes to get Squidward's soup, he is wearing the maid suit, but when he comes back, he is wearing his normal clothes. However, he might have taken the suit off.

When Squidward claims that 4:00 is time for his "stories," it's nighttime, but in the next scene, when SpongeBob pushes the bed Squidward is sleeping in outside of his house, it's already daytime.

When SpongeBob's foghorn blows away at 4:00, it reads 11:40.

In the puppet show on SpongeBob's handmade TV, the green shirtless puppet's mouth changes to an open mouth, and then back to a closed mouth when the camera view is changed.

Mr. Krabs' dime cannot fit in his pants or the register because it's too big and heavy.

When SpongeBob cracks from anger and grabs Mr. Krabs' neck right above his shirt so he can strangle him as revenge, it is shown that his two thumbs on each hand had penetrated right through Mr. Krabs' neck.

On the Nicktoons Network guide, the episode is missing its question mark.

This also happens on their guide for "What Ever Happened To SpongeBob?"